Re: blocking calls

I have done some experimenting and have found the answers to my questions two posts up.

1a. Callers not on the white list hear: "the number you are dialing is not accepting calls from your number at this time”. The phone then hangs up on the caller and he gets a busy tone.

1b. You cannot customize this announcement.

2, 3 & 4. They cannot leave a voicemail. A link at Rogers stated the following:

"Allow calls from my Friends & Family - Privacy List. I can have up to 30 numbers on this list. Only the numbers on my Friends & Family - Privacy List will ring through to my Home Phone. All other callers will receive a message stating you are unavailable to take their call. You will be notified with a ring splash sound that a rejected caller has tried to call your Home Phone. Numbers can be added, changed or deleted at any time."

however, I did not receive a "ring splash sound", whatever that is - perhaps I just missed it. There was nothing on my call display on my phone, or on Rogers channel 975.

This feature is therefore useless to me because I can only put in 30 numbers and because there is no notice of any kind when someone outside the white list calls.

I also had a very difficult time putting names and numbers into the white list for my test. It would accept one name and number, but then it would not accept a second. I then tried setting up a contacts list and adding the numbers from that contacts list, however, when I added names/numbers from the contacts list, the phone number didn't transfer in, only the name, so I just gave up and ran my test with one number. Perhaps it was just glitchy today.

PS. I had called Rogers regarding these questions, however, I could tell that the CSR was just "guessing" at the answers and she got 4 out of 5 wrong.

Re: blocking calls

Best way to handle it on a landline is to get the "Home and Away Online Manager" feature. If you're on a package that includes "x" number of calling features then just add that one on in place of something else. If you'd rather not remove one of your existing features I believe you could add it as an extra feature for $6.00/month.

Once you have it on, you can access your account online and set up specific rules and block certain numbers from calling.

Unfortunately, when it it comes to blocked calls and using home and away online manager, you are only allowed 30 blocked callers. In this day and age, that is really insufficient. With the number of scammers calling, the blocked callers list can fill up real quick. We got so fed up with juggling numbers on our list that we purchased a phone that has blocking callers built into the device. Now, we can block 250 callers. Rogers should really fix this feature so that more callers can be blocked!

Re: blocking calls

Unfortunately, it's not much use these days because most of the telemarketing calls now come from offshore, they use auto-dialers and they don't respect DNCL.

Even many of the telemarketers in Canada don't respect the DNCL and some of them are finally being fined.

Many people now use other techniques to deal with telemarketers, including, but not limited to:

- a "white list" of callers (often in their own phone's directory) which provides a distinctive ring for people you know. If you don't hear that distinctive ring, it's very likely a telemarketer.

- a call blocker - many phones (like Panasonic Cordless) now allow you to add call blocking to your phone and you can add numbers to that blocked list. This helps in some instances, but depends on call display. The call display is not always what it seems since telemarketer spoof numbers and also now rotate numbers so if you put it in your call block list, the next time they call it could appear as a different number.

I find the "white list/distinctive ring" feature to be the most useful.

Whether or not you're registered on the National DNCL, you can reduce the number of telemarketing calls by adding your number to individual telemarketers’ do not call lists.

All telemarketers, even if they only make exempted calls, must keep their own internal do not call lists. When you receive a call, you can ask to have your number added to their do not call list, or you can contact the organization directly to have your number placed on their list. The organization must keep your number on their do not call list for 3 years and 14 days.

Keep in mind that calls made by market research or polling firms are not considered telemarketing calls because they aren’t selling, leasing or renting products or services. Similarly, debt collection calls are not considered telemarketing calls. As well, these organizations do not have to keep internal do not call lists.

Re: blocking calls

The DNCL is somewhat useful for the Canadian companies that respect it, however...

Just as an FYI, most bothersome telemarketing calls these days come from outside Canada and those telemarketers do not respect the DNCL. Most spoof and rotate telephone numbers. Tips for dealing with Telemarketers are outlined in my previous post 57. Even call blockers are becoming useless since the telemarketers now regularly change their spoofed call display numbers.

I have found that using a "white list" with distinctive ring is the most useful. Any incoming calls not on your own phone's directory have another ring, which invariably indicates a telemarketer, or other bothersome caller. (there are a few exceptions if the (real) caller is not on your white list, but those tend to be pretty rare and you can still usually let them go to voicemail.